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Friday, May 26, 2006

Bruce Wilhelm

This one is very nice. The Japanese looking pine tree is what first caught my attention, and later I noticed the ghostly robed figure in the reeds on the left, and the ghost shadow shape in the foreground. I love my little ghost house painting he did... and of course everything Japanese pine trees is good.

This one is so much like Hasegawa Tohaku's famous screens, and seems so different for Bruce. Where is the absurdity? Where are the characters? This is one of two restrained forest scenes in the show, the other doesn't have the strong Japanese feel. I like this one a lot.

Hasegawa Tohaku. I'm guessing Bruce must have looked at this, the similarities are so strong. It is interesting to see Bruce's probable reinterpretation so soon after Chris Ashley'sposting of our own Tao-Chimountain re-dos.

This one is closer to what we expect from Bruce. I was looking at Breugel today was reminded of Bruce and his work. The bare trees, the palette, odd figures outside engaged in the everday alongside the unfamiliar. Something Breugel about Bruce's work, for me.

Bruce is one of the artists representing ADA at the Affordable Art Fair and Scope-Hamptons, the bastard.

I think what's interesting about Bruce's work is how he handles the autobiographical and narrative in his work. I remember earlier his voice had a lot of personal dimension to it.... now I'm not saying that aspect of it has seriously diminished, but it's interesting to observe how the "scholarly" and "Bruce vs Art History" aspect begins to take effect. These are no longer taken as personal battles of singularities but wider approaches towards ideas as a whole. The pizza-man lost in a spiral is quite possibly the most raw side of him I've seen...

Of all the things that the man is affected by, it is remarkable to look at his work and to not once be able to identify his immediate surroundings. I have seen Richmond, and many, many others strive to capture it more authentically. We are a city which happens to have an art-school in it, and there's at least a thousand paintings of the Fan going around. But this artist isn't concerned with that, and that shows a very interesting side to his character, indeed. Bruce speaks to a wide audience in a very subtle, quizzical, and indirect way.

I admire the man for his prolific nature and his wide-angle/off-angle approach to his subjects. If only the rest of us in his classes could hope to catch up.